The Gypsy
by Dgcakes
Summary: Yet another AU fic. Retelling of the series sorta with some major changes to Ziggy & how he met Dillon, among other things. Slash, Femslash, Dillon/Ziggy/K, Senaya, Flemma, Scott/Gem. Just for fun really. edit: ship change, sorry everyone
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Me and my little fics. XD This one is just something to do between chapters of "A Second Chance" since I'm stuck on them 3 :3 A small AU where Zigs is a good bit different, both because of events in his life that I'm changing for this story and because of...other things ^~. Also, some chapters might be shorter than my usual 2-3k per. Just sort of going with the flow here.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is partly own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het. Please keep this in mind. Fic rating is also in place for a reason – I might be writing some heavier scenes at points, though I will warn before any of them.

**Extra Note: **Contains some spoilers for certain plot points in the series, and follows the plot of several episodes, though altered a bit. AU as per usual.

* * *

Before Venjix attacked, the world was doing pretty well. People were making advances in medicine and the planet's ecosystem had somehow been saved. Sure, there was still the occasional war, poverty, all of that, but who cared when the future was now? Venjix attacking had been a huge blow to the human race, as well as to the entire rest of the world. The atmosphere and climate were thrown completely to hell, the air and water was mostly poisoned or irradiated, and the majority of the population had died, the rest fleeing to the domed city of Corinth. Some people had been captured by the virus during that time and some had evaded it but not managed to get into the city – no one knew for sure what happened to those people.

Presently a dark car was driving along the barren wasteland that the outer world had now become. He had no name, no past and no memories besides a few things. What he did know at the moment, however, was his fuel tank was low, his water was running out, and there was someone lying dead ahead of him on the ground. As for whether this person was still alive or yet another of the many corpses left in the wake of the destruction wasn't really to be sure – though, given the wasteland wasn't littered with bodies, it was more likely to be someone who was alive or had been recently.

The person, it seemed, was a young man with long brown curls, head resting on a flannel shirt laid out on the ground. As the car managed to pull to a stop right by his head, the person let out a loud "WHOA!" and jumped up, looking a good deal surprised. Well, now it was obvious he was alive at least. The driver hopped out, staring at the younger male like he was insane.

"The hell, man. Do you always drive into random people when you see them on the ground or just when you have an entire wide expanse of ground to drive on?" the guy, it seemed, was a little unnerved after being woken from his nap. His messy brown curls fell down over his one eye and hung down to around his shoulders, tangled and dusty.

"I don't know, do you always go to sleep randomly in the middle of the ground?" the older male remarked back, leaning on the door of his car and trying to figure out the skinny kid before him – for that was one of the most noticeable traits about this young man, besides his wild hair. His frame was almost impossibly thin and boney, and the clothes that would have been tight on a normal person hung lose on him. In fact, his pants were only being held up with what was unmistakably some cinched up rubber from a hose and his tank top was falling off of one shoulder.

Reaching down to yank the flannel up off of the ground and retrieve the black bag that'd been partly hidden under his sleeping form, the smaller man seemed to be considering his answer. "Yes actually. There aren't many five star hotels in this area of the wastes." he shot back, pulling a bottle of water out of his bag and taking a sip. Immediately, the driver dived for the bag with the water, but quiet suddenly, the younger man was crouched on top of his car, having leaped there quickly with speed most humans, particularly not ones that sickly looking, had.

"Ah-ah-ah, you didn't say the magic word," the younger male said, grinning impishly from beneath his more-than-overgrown bangs, "Well, you didn't say any word at all, but still."

The older male grunted and glared up at the person on his car, "I'm not going to ask you for it – just give me the water." he held his hand out and after a time the other tossed it to him.

"That's all I've got for you, I'm afraid – you won't be able to get more till we arrive at Corinth and that's a good several miles thata'ways." the brunette was stuffing the flannel into his bag and zipping it up, pointing as he mentioned the city. His companion stared, "We?"

Looking up, the younger male nodded, "Yes, we. You think I'm passing up a chance to get there a bit faster after how long I've been traveling around out here?"

The older male merely climbed into his car and slammed the door, intending to take off and leave the stranger here. Sadly, soon as he started up the motor, he felt the weight on top shift. Briefly, his windshield was obscured by the long haired youth leaning upsidedown over it to glare at him and give the man the bird before he vanished, seemingly blown off by the speed and wind. Soon enough the driver realized that he had no such luck – the stray he'd picked up was sliding into the passenger's seat and slamming the door to it shut.

"That, my friend, was a dick move." the younger male commented before leaning back the seat and doing whatever it was people like him did to get comfortable.

As they drove, the younger male was silent, mostly snoozing, but occasionally attempting to make conversation with the stoic man beside him. He seemed to be having a fun game out of figuring out what questions he could and couldn't get answers to, either because the older man didn't feel like talking right then or because he didn't know the answers. The present case was his name.

"So what's your name?"

"I don't know." he felt like he was growling that phrase at his passenger for the hundredth time and so far it wasn't dissuading the damn boy one bit, "Why don't you tell me yours?"

The smaller male snorted, the one dark eye visible outside of his mess of hair and sunken sockets seemed to glance at him, considering, "I'm Ziggy."

This earned a look of disbelief, "Your name is _Ziggy_?" that was either a horrible joke or the other had cruel parents. That drew a chuckle from the younger man, "Yes, my name's Ziggy. Ziggy Grover if you want to be formal but I only use my last name for official stuff."

Eventually, they came upon the city, still pretty far and behind the Venjix barrier and the powerful shield, keeping the people inside protected from the outside world. Ziggy grinned, waving a hand lightly towards their destination, "So what's the plan – wanna stop and sneak in over cover of dark...or shall we play chicken with the barrier?" the second option brought that devilish grin out once more, and it was easy to see the strange sparkle in those brown eyes.

Glancing at the fuel gage, the darker haired man shook his head. "We can't stop now – if I shut it off, I might not be able to get the motor going again."

Ziggy's grin increased tenfold, "The fun option it is then." he said, and immediately unzipped his bag to pull out a very large and very homemade looking blaster. When the nameless man looked at him, a small amused smile on his face at the weapon, the younger male shrugged, "I really hate grinders." His companion smiled a bit more at that and turned back to the wheel – he might just be getting to like this crazy wild boy, though maybe it was just because he also had a strong hatred for the mechanized pains in the ass.

As they sped towards the barrier, Ziggy decided to add another comment to the mix, "So you know, no one's won at chicken with the Venjix barrier yet." he said, though his eyes flashed as if to say '_though I got close last time'_ – hell, the older man could practically hear him saying it, though Ziggy's mouth didn't move more.

"Well, I'm about as close to no one as you're ever gonna meet." he said and sped up. The other male shrugged, rolling down the window, "There's a first time for everything." he agreed, watching in the side mirror for patrols. When a few converged on them, led by several grinders on dirt bikes and at least two on speeders, Ziggy began to shoot, knocking out their bikes and doing a good bit of destruction for such a makeshift gun.

About halfway through, when it was obvious they'd need more than the younger male's sharpshooting to take out the grinders, the driver held out his hand for an item, "Hand me that." he asked. Ziggy didn't even glance up from his shooting to answer, "Screwdriver, wrench, charge or another lollipop?" the younger man had done a thorough search of his side when he'd first gotten in the car, and had even swiped one of his partner's lollipops. "The last two." he was answered and Ziggy took a moment away from blasting to give him the items in question.

Using his saliva to make the lollipop sticky, he threw it out the window, where it stuck to one of the grinders' bikes and blew up as Ziggy pulled himself into the car quickly. "Nice one." he commented, picking up the charges to hold on his lap so he and his companion could throw them at their opposition. This was gonna be fun, the former was sure of it.

As they approached the huge Venjix barrier, the car hit a rock and the last charge turned on and fell into the backseat. Ziggy scowled, leaning back to retrieve it. At that moment, the older man thought he heard his companion saying '_and we were doing so well too'_ but at that moment, his mind immediately jumped to a decision on what his name should be. With Ziggy reaching back behind him, the bony younger male's shoulders rubbing up against his a bit as he drove, he spoke, "Dillon." this brought a confused, "Whu?" out of the younger male before he continued. "You can call me Dillon."

The newly named Dillon was definitely sure he heard Ziggy saying '_about damn time'_ triumphantly in his head, but through the rear-view mirror, he could see the younger man and his lips only moved to say "Nice knowing you, Dillon," as he reached for that last charge. With yet another stroke of genius, the man instructed his companion to hang on and swung the car they were in so the charge flew out the window and into one of the Venjix towers, allowing them to slide in past it and towards the shield. Ziggy sat up to clap him on the shoulder for that, "Nice work."

– –

Inside, there was heavy debate as to whether or not to open the shields for the incoming signals. There would be some breaching of the shield if they opened it to let these two in, and it wasn't even sure whether or not they were proper to let in. The one's bio-signal was only half human, but the other's was similar enough to a human's to be one, but there was definitely something off about it.

It wasn't until Dr. K – a sound frequency and a large black letter on a white screen and the voice that commanded the city's number one defense – instructed him to open the shield did Colonel Truman, head of Corinth's security, have it opened.

– –

Pulling inside as the shield opened, Ziggy leaned back with relief. "Man, I wonder if they have meat." he commented, before turning to notice the grinders entering the city after them, accompanied by a large dark looking bot. Three vehicles had just pulled up nearby, their occupants stepping out and doing something strange with their cellphones before light flashed and they were in weird costumes. During this time, Ziggy had been getting his gun out again. By the time they were done their transformation, he was standing beside the car and had shot out several of the grinders.

"Want us to hang back out of the way or should I keep at these buggers?" he called over towards the now primary colored team, who seemed surprise at his initiative against the grinders. His blasts weren't doing much against the major bot but it was definitely working just fine on the grinders, particularly when he could aim and they were walking.

The Rangers stared for a moment before shaking their heads. "We'll handle this." the Red Ranger informed them before the three got into action. Ziggy nodded, pulling back his gun and turning to Dillon. "You didn't shut the car down, did you? Cause this wasn't the best place to stop." he commented and immediately received a 'you think?' look.

It seemed this team was more than capable of handling the Attackbot and smaller numbers of grinders, but when a few of them managed to assemble a large gun with the intent of blasting Ranger Yellow in her large bear machine (a zord or something) and Ziggy's blaster didn't work, there was trouble. Immediately, he and Dillon hopped back into the car, the man trying to start the car to no avail till Ziggy hit it, his hand almost seeming to glow for a second as he did. With it on once more, they managed to drive into the gun, causing it to destroy several of the drones flying in, piloted by even MORE of the stinking Grinders.

The fight ended very soon after and the shield went back up. Ziggy and Dillon got out once more as the Ranger team came to see and thank them. However, just as they were intending to do this, a large military truck arrived with a siren blazing and began to scan the pair. They claimed Dillon had Venjix hardware in him – Generation 7 at least – and Ziggy...well, the scanner not only didn't show hardware in him, it didn't show anything HUMAN either, completely burning out when it went over the younger man, who just shrugged as smoke started coming from it.

The pair were immediately arrested, much to the surprise and disgruntlement of the Rangers. As the duo was carted off in handcuffs, all of the team, as well as Dillon, were positive they heard Ziggy mumbling something along the lines of, '_Ah, home sweet cell block. Wonder how the chow is.'_ But the young man just had a sleepy expression on his face as he climbed into the car, tossing his head so his hair didn't get caught in the door. How weird...

* * *

It was SO hard to resist calling him Dillon all chapter XD.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Me and my little fics. XD This one is just something to do between chapters of "A Second Chance" since I'm stuck on them 3 :3 A small AU where Zigs is a good bit different, both because of events in his life that I'm changing for this story and because of...other things ^~. Also, some chapters might be shorter than my usual 2-3k per. Just sort of going with the flow here.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is partly own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het. Please keep this in mind. Fic rating is also in place for a reason – I might be writing some heavier scenes at points, though I will warn before any of them.

**Extra Note: **Contains some spoilers for certain plot points in the series, and follows the plot of several episodes, though altered a bit. AU as per usual.

* * *

Dillon was finding out fast that this 'Colonel Truman' wasn't going to believe most of what he said. He had Venjix hardware in his body, no memories and a rather bad attitude. It was an unbelievable story but it's what he had. And now this 'yellow power ranger' person wanted to talk to him and that wasn't looking to be much better. However, just as she entered the room, his eyes glazed over for a second as a voice entered his brain.

_'Hey man, how's it going on your end? Major General Hardass still pitching a fit?'_ Okay that had DEFINITELY been Ziggy's voice. And since the other wasn't here, his earlier conclusions that the younger man could talk to him without actually talking, were proved correct.

Dillon leaned back a bit, deciding to just go with whatever his new 'friend' was doing to talk to him. It was probably more interesting than this after all. '_Yeah. He left though, let in that blonde from earlier.' _he thought back experimentally.

Ziggy's quiet laughter entered his mind before the other spoke again, '_Now you're getting it. Anyway, the blonde is called Summer. Call her by name and tell her Ziggy says hi. It'll freak her the hell out.' _And Dillon was inclined to believe he was right.

As the blonde sat down, he smiled mysteriously at her, "Hello...Summer." her eyes immediately snapped up to him in response, "Ziggy wanted me to tell you he said hi." Dillon told her with a shrug. She relaxed then before small realization dawned on her face.

"That guy who came here with you was ZIGGY? Holy hell...I thought those jeans looked familiar." she mumbled before shaking her head and turning back to Dillon with a smile.

The man was more than amused at having thrown her off a bit, making a note to thank Ziggy for it later. "Yellow's not really your color." he commented, hoping to keep the upperhand. Sadly, it put her back on the mark and she fired back with something about him being broody that drew Ziggy's laughter to his head once again. He was getting annoyed now.

"Look, I keep telling you people, I don't kno-"

Summer did that girly eyeroll thing as she cut him off, "I don't care who you are, or where you're from." that brought more quiet laughter from Ziggy who commented that she'd been listening to the Backstreet Boys too long. Before Dillon could ask him to elaborate, the girl before him held out his pocketwatch and said she wanted to know where he was going before standing up to leave.

"okay HOW do you do that?" Dillon demanded soon as he was back in the same cell with Ziggy.

The younger man was stretched out on one of the bunks and seemed to be in a 'mood' so he just smirked, "Do what?"

He rolled his eyes, stepping closer to glare at the younger man, "Talk in my head," he hissed so no one heard him and thought he was crazy. Ziggy just shrugged and Dillon was finding himself very frustrated.

"So, when do you wanna try getting out of here? We could probably just bust out if need be but there are other ways if you have plans for them." This question brought an incredulous look from the older male. "Who says I'm taking you with me?"

The younger man glanced up, looking at him from the one eye visible from his hair, "Who says I wasn't implying I was taking YOU with ME? Ya think I wanna hang around this place much longer?"

Dillon glared, "Give me one good reason why I should go with you or let you come with me."

Ziggy snorted, hopping down from his punk and clapping Dillon on the shoulder, "Shadow puppets, man." he said, as if it were the most obvious thing ever. When the older man questioned it, he crouched down to put his hands behind a sheet, "Epic shadow puppets."

The older male smirked, "that'll come in handy." Well, that and the whole mind reading thing...and the speed capable of evading him with ease...and whatever had let the younger male not only stay on his car when it took off but get in safely too.

Ziggy leaned lightly against the bed post, looking a bit proud of himself. "Oh I know." the younger man laughed as a few prisoners in gray uniforms walked by.

"We're gonna get you, Gyspy!" the one called, "Ghostin you tonight boy."

Dillon looked between the little group and then over to his companion. "Care to explain that?" Ziggy just laughed again, "Yeah man, almost every criminal in this town wants me dead. Most awesome thing ever." he explained, heading towards the stairs to grab some lunch.

As they were heading upstairs, the pair talked animatedly about well...nothing much. Just a few of the gang members who were the most fun to piss off. Dillon was amused by Ziggy's sense of humor and also taking the time to notice he looked rather cute in the orange jumpsuit – way more vulnerable than he actually was.

Soon as they were in the door, one of the gang members Ziggy had described came up to him, the man's gang clustering around before throwing the young man onto a table, spread-eagled and looking very nervous. As Dillon went to sit down and eat, he couldn't help but think that the younger man looked very appealing spread out like that, but that was something he'd have to investigate later.

The man talking to Ziggy just kept on in his weird accent, talking about respect and how much of a pathetic loser the younger man was. It was all Dillon could to do keep himself from firing out and attempting to kick their asses there and then, feeling a tad protective of his new 'friend'. Ziggy could be grating on the nerves, and he was horribly mean when it came to practical jokes, but he was all Dillon had and he was starting to get attached to the other with his more than amusing sense of humor and odd skill set. However, they had a plan and he was going to stick to it.

The guy was talking about the one strawberry desert that had been made specifically for him and how it was a sign of respect. Slowly, while he was talking down Ziggy and preparing to either beat up or rape him, Dillon stood up and carefully went over to snag the desert in question and promptly tapped the inside of the empty container to alert them to him grabbing it.

Now that he had the guy's attention, Dillon calmly egged the guy into fighting him over the dessert. Immediately he and the other gang members tried to fight him, but we absolutely no match. A few tried get the man from behind but with an "Oh no you don't!" Ziggy jumped into the fray, kicking a lot more ass than one would expect from someone that scrawny and sickly looking.

Once all the gangsters were laying about, unconscious, the pair took a seat at the corner table, Ziggy taking a spoonful of the jello with a saucy smirk. "Told you it was easy to get the one strawberry dessert here." he commented, waving a hand so that two of the limes quickly flew over to him – no one else was going to eat them, after all. "Gotta love picking on gangsters." he commented, offering Dillon a bite of his.

The man chuckled some, taking the offered spoonful of Ziggy's extra desserts, "Why do I think pissing off gangs is one of your specialties? Ranked somewhere between shadow puppets and being psychic in the scale of usefulnes?" They'd have continued like that if a guy from another gang hadn't come over to tell Dillon it was his seat the other man was sitting in.

A long fight later and they were both chained up in their cells, Dillon's entire upper body covered in chains. Ziggy smiled, slipping out of his easily soon as they were alone. "The storm troopers always underestimate just how skinny I am." he commented, heading over to pick the lock on his friend's. "Starting to see why prison's fun just yet?"

The darker brunette leaned back lightly as his chains were being undone. "And when do we get initiated into the seedy sexual underworld?" he joked, leaning lightly on one muscular arm once he was free. Ziggy laughed at that, "Sorry, that's only for cartel members and anyone who can't kick their asses. But if you really need a hand I can help you out." the younger male teased, leaning against Dillon's side with that same impish look in the one visible eye.

"Oh really now?" the older man asked, sitting up some. Their lips were touching before the words 'yeah, really' were fully out of Ziggy's mouth. It was a hot and passionate kiss and it probably would have lead to something much more satisfying had they not sensed a group of soldiers approaching to take Dillon for more interrogation. Breaking apart quickly, the older man leaped to his feet, winking at Ziggy a bit as he waited by the door. The trio they'd helped on their first arrival had been brought to talk to him and though Summer waved a bit at the curly haired younger male, it was obvious they had no interest in him.

They discussed who they were and introduced him to their leader, the crazy computer screen lady, who Ziggy had actually called that in Dillon's mind, when the man had commented to him how weird it was. It was nice having the other man in his mind, he decided, to keep him from completely dying from the insanity of these weirdos. They were just too much. However, they offered to let him free if he joined them, and all Dillon could bring himself to ask was if he got to choose his color, which got Ziggy to laugh like crazy.

The team were nice enough people – Scott was a bit too much of a hardass and Flynn seemed rather simple at times, but they did seem like honestly good people who cared about their city. Too bad Dillon didn't really care too much - or rather, didn't want to admit he cared, as Ziggy kindly pointed out. The younger man's telepathy usually only stretched so far, but he was using a few extra special – and draining – abilities as a favor to Dillon so his friend could keep his sanity with these people. The draining part was unspoken but he could hear it, feel it in the way his companion spoke, in how tired he sounded. It meant a lot to the man that his friend was bothering with this for him.

After a rainstorm, a walk and seeing a pair of little kids fighting over an umbrella (something that triggered some feelings of nostalgia) the man finally made his decision. He agreed to be their black power ranger, but found himself stipulating one condition – they had to get Ziggy out of prison. If he was going to be joining the team till he found a good way out of the city, he wanted the younger man there. Especially since it wouldn't be good to let Ziggy get himself killed trying to use such draining powers just to keep Dillon sane. He completely denied the thought that this might have anything to do with the desire to finish what he and the younger man had started the day before.

In person, Ziggy greeted the team enthusiastically. Summer recognized him now so they were able to exchange a hug, having been almost friends once (she even commented that Ziggy still looked good in her jeans, which caused a twinge of jealousy in Dillon, though over who he wasn't sure.) Flynn was more friendly with the much more open Ziggy, the two shaking hands firmly and having an almost hug as they were being introduced to him. Scott regarded the long haired vagrant with disdain but eventually shook his hand, Ziggy very calm and cool about it.

Dr. K, it seemed, took an instant dislike to the young man. He was wild haired, messily dressed, and had a huge criminal record. This was someone she stated very firmly to Scott and the others that she didn't want hanging around her team. Summer waved it off, however. "He's a nice guy, and he's got a lot of useful connections. He wouldn't try to interfere with us protecting the city."

"Yeah, the only thing he'd likely do is loosen you lot up." Dillon joked, but Dr. K was firm. That was just what she was afraid of. From the room he now shared with the older man, Ziggy himself smiled – this was going to be VERY interesting.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Me and my little fics. XD This one is just something to do between chapters of "A Second Chance" since I'm stuck on them 3 :3 A small AU where Zigs is a good bit different, both because of events in his life that I'm changing for this story and because of...other things ^~. Also, some chapters might be shorter than my usual 2-3k per. Just sort of going with the flow here.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is partly own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het. Please keep this in mind. Fic rating is also in place for a reason – I might be writing some heavier scenes at points, though I will warn before any of them.

**Extra Note: **Contains some spoilers for certain plot points in the series, and follows the plot of several episodes, though altered a bit. AU as per usual.

**On Pairings**: Prior to this chapter, this was gonna be a Diggy, Kenaya, Summer/Scott and FlynnxTwins fic. Somehow, while planning future chapters, pairings started working different. Instead we'll have Summer with Tenaya, Ziggy with Dillon and K, Scott with Gem and Flynn with Gemma. I'm really really sorry about the inconvenience or confusion. Things just stopped working the way I wanted them to.

* * *

It was early morning, a few days after the arrival of Ranger Series Black and his...friend. Dr. K was up working in her lab, trying very hard not to fall back asleep. She was up before dawn to prepare for the training session she had planned with the newest member of the team while the others searched for a Series Green. Previously, it hadn't been needed but with Series Black now active, a partner would be required for megazord configurations, among other things.

Idly, the little woman sighed, staring over her monitors at the darkened Garage. She was hungry and tired and really wanted to go out and snag some food, but then there'd be a chance of someone seeing her and the little woman really wasn't ready for the Rangers – particularly Ranger Black – to see her and try to question why they were being led by a girl who wasn't even twenty yet.

In the dim light of the soon to be dawn, she could see a figure heading down the stairs. K sadly nibbled an energy bar and tried not to let the grumbling of her stomach hurt too much – well there went her opportunity to get food. As the light in the kitchen area came on, she realized it was Ziggy – that young man who Ranger Black had had them get out of prison. K gave him a dirty look, adding this to the list of reasons she disliked him.

He was...well, if she was honest, he was a nice young man. Way too skinny and sickly looking, a sloppy dresser and his hair was a mess, but he was still nice. The truth was Ziggy was wild – he was obviously very used to living alone and surviving whatever he had to. Unlike Dillon, who was a bit of a loner by choice, Ziggy seemed to be a perfectly social and well adjusted young man who life had treated rather poorly. The fact that he seemed to understand a lot about her without ever seeing or knowing her was a bit frightening. The fact that he wasn't totally human anymore was also unnerving – he'd been changed by being stuck in the wastes and was now something beyond natural or technological explanation.

Watching him between her preparations, she could see the young man taking out a lot of different ingredients for things from the cabinets and fridge, but none were for something she was familiar with eating. K generally paid little to no attention when the team ate, and really, most of the time they just ordered in – none of them could really cook besides Flynn and most of his creations were of a fruity beverage sort. They just weren't the 'cooking' types. The fact that the ingredients were even in the house at all implied someone had bought them and none of the team would have. Which meant Ziggy had gotten them purely for the purposes of whatever he was doing.

The young woman found herself fascinated, watching him pour the batter on the skillet to cook it. The substance spread out towards the edges but cooked slowly, forming a circular object somewhat like a flat cake. K had not gotten to eat cake much before coming here and even now she didn't. At Alphabet Soup, they would give her the same frosted yellow cake thing for her birthday every year, let her blow out the candles and then take it away. She wasn't even allowed to EAT her cake and was almost positive the damn thing had been plastic anyway.

Soon enough, there were two plates stacked with whatever this creation was and still an entire bowl full of batter. Turning off the stove for a moment, the young man took the one plate and cut up the pieces into neat little squares before pouring what looked like syrup on it. He filled a glass with milk and took the two, seemingly headed upstairs. K was about to turn on her monitor to comment he shouldn't leave food out to be wasted when she realized the young man wasn't heading towards the stairs but the door to the ranger room. The realization happened about the same moment there was a light tapping on her door. The little woman jumped, surprised out of her mind that anyone had even known this part of the room existed, let alone that she was here.

"Open up, Dr. K. I brought you breakfast." came Ziggy's voice from the other side, decently cheery for this hour of the morning. She was shocked anyone had even realized she was in the building before pressing the button to allow him entrance. The young man set the plate and glass on her work desk, a bit away from the electronics.

"What is it?" she asked, staring at the brown and tan squares, covered in sauce and smelling delicious, especially given how hungry she was.

The brunette snorted, "Those are chocolate chip pancakes. Eat them. You are not living off of energy bars anymore." he informed her, taking the half eaten one from her hand and tossing it in the trashcan. "And your team is not going to be living off of takeout either. How the hell you managed to keep them fighting fit on convenience store hoagies and smoothies I do not know."

K stared at him, "You aren't even supposed to know I'm in here. And what gives you the right to talk about how other people eat?" she inquired, looking irritable.

He raised a brow at her – or at least, K was pretty sure he did, his bangs hiding a good deal of his face – and smirked, "I'll remember to not lose so much weight next time I'm stuck alone in an irradiated wasteland for a year." She winced at that, knowing he was probably a bit more annoyed about her comment than he was letting on.

Ziggy shrugged, reaching out to lightly pat her shoulder, "No not really, it was an honest mistake." he winked his visible eye then and headed out of her hidden room – the room the girl oversaw the rangers from and was able to communicate through a vocoded screen to her team. The room that no one had realized existed till now, till a weird wild boy with a mysterious streak.

The young genius took the plate of pancakes and slowly bit in, her eyes closing with joy at the taste. Okay so maybe having this young vagrant around wouldn't be so bad. At the very least, he knew where she was and didn't seem to have a problem with providing food for the overworked doctor. As she sat there eating and considering, Ziggy had turned back on the stove and was now using the rest of the batter – which seemed to lack the chocolate chips hers and his had – to make pancakes for the team.

On a whim, she turned on the communication screen in the kitchen area and put her headset on to talk to him while he worked. Coughing lightly, the young woman alerted the young man to her presence, "Thank you for the...pancakes, Ziggy." she stated, his name awkward on her tongue.

About this point, he was flipping a sizzling circle so that the soft and white side ended up down and the golden brown up, "You're quite welcome, Doc." It was about this point, with her screen fully trained on him and more light in the kitchen, that the genius realized what he was wearing.

"Aren't those Ranger Yellow's old jeans? I was informed they were ripped after a grinder fight." she inquired, only realizing the details about the item because that pair had been a favorite of Summer's and had butterfly designs stitched up one leg and on each of the back pockets, making it a very recognizable pair of pants.

Ziggy nodded, putting the pancake he had just finished on a plate and pouring more batter in, "Yeah, she saves her old jeans for me. Sorta a tradition we had for years – when Summer was rich, she'd just throw out any clothes that got damaged or too old. At the time, I was homeless – surprise surprise I know – and I'd trash-pick the stuff so I'd have something to wear. She caught me at it and after that, she started just boxing up her clothes to give to me. When she came to Corinth, she kept it up out of habit, even though she no longer threw stuff out because it was out of style – good thing too, because now I have some decently workable clothes."

It was obvious, to K at least, that this young man loved to ramble as well as loved to tell a story. The fact that he would willingly wear a pair of designer women's jeans that were ripped up by grinders, as well as admit he was homeless and trashpicked for clothes was actually kind of interesting. Carefully, she adjusted her headset to ask him more. "Why not just buy an outfit and stick with it?" after all, K herself had very few clothes – all of which were matching white labcoats, pleated skirts, and sweaters, very schoolgirl esque.

"Because when it comes down to whether I want to eat or not versus getting a new outfit, I generally choose to keep myself alive." A practical answer, truly. "I may be living here for now, but I do still have to conserve my resources, particularly when I have to go out on a limb to make sure your team is better equipped."

K leaned back in her chair, quiet for a time as she finished off the stack of pancakes she'd been given and watched Ziggy finishing off the pancakes for the rest of the team. It was surprising how much effort he was putting out for them – getting fruit out of the fridge to chop up and put in a bowl so they could put it on their pancakes if they chose, making sure coffee was made, all of the strange morning things that K hadn't even realized were missing from the group. "Maybe you'll make yourself useful to us after all."

The brunette took a seat at the table to dig into his pancakes, "I sure hope so. Cause your team needs a whole helluva lot of help."

Flynn was the first downstairs, woken happily to the smell of fresh pancakes and coffee. What he found was Ziggy – the kind of strange but nice friend of Dillon's – chatting animatedly with the every computery Dr. K. This would have been acceptable – K did talk to the team sometimes – but they weren't discussing mission plans, and the team's mentor wasn't barking orders. The pair seemed to be having a genuine friendly conversation – something Flynn himself had found impossible, particularly since it was weird trying to have a friendly chat with a computer screen that was the front for a very cold and detached person.

"Good mornin!" he greeted, heading over to where the food was laid out and grabbing a plate, "Tryin to impress us now, are ye?" The Scotsman had decided pretty quickly he liked Ziggy a bit better than he liked their new black ranger, and here he was right about whether or not the guy was worth having around. After all, there were pancakes and that tended to put a person in Flynn's good graces.

The curly haired male leaned back in his chair a bit to grin at the blue ranger, "So, you guys are doing that Series Green tryout thing later today, right?" the young man asked, pulling a scrunchy out of his pocket to tie back his hair, giving it a dirty look. Ziggy really thought he was going to have to cut it at this rate, it was just getting in the way and after a year in the wastes, he had tangles that were not going to go away.

Flynn nodded, talking between bites, "Yeah, we have some military officers and local workers trying out. S'too bad you didn't know anyone in the city who'd do for it."

Ziggy shrugged, "Sorry. Most everyone I knew that made it here were criminals, carnies and charity workers, none of which were really what you wanted." It'd probably have been funny as hell, letting a bunch of crazy carnies and freaks try out to be a power ranger, but that just wasn't the kind of gig they belonged in.

"Series Black seemed to be of the opinion that Ziggy would be an acceptable candidate." Dr. K chimed in, still somewhat paying attention to the discussion, "Though why I am not entirely sure."

A dark look passed through the young man's visible eye, a look that Flynn only noticed for a second before the other burst out laughing. "What seriously? Man needs to stop making jokes at my expense. I'm a flippin' scrawny bum. No one needs to see me gallivanting around the city in a not-spandex nano-fiber outfit."

Flynn snorted, deciding to go with the joke, "Ah, but I hear you can fight, and you're an excellent shot. Just what the team needs – a homeless ex-con."

"Pff, exactly. Plus I don't even wanna be a Power Ranger – not that it's an unacceptable profession or whatever. But I'm a tad unstable and not hero material like at all." The comments were light-hearted but there was an obvious undertone of seriousness.

The Scot finished his plate, leaning back to sip on his coffee a bit, "So what'll you two be doin' while we're out searching for the next great hero?"

K didn't have to consider the matter much, slipping back into her serious and professional mannerisms, "I will be running tests on Ranger Series Black and having him test his Invincibility Shield." she stated, earning a small eyeroll from Flynn at her slipping fully back out of conversation mode.

Ziggy thought for a moment, "I think I'll cut my hair." he finally said, nodding to the messy pile of curls that were still half blocking his face and obviously not staying properly in the ponytail he'd put them in.

"You could use it," Dillon's voice agreed, the man coming down to see about something to eat. Raising an eyebrow at the pancakes, he looked between Flynn and Ziggy, the former pointing to his companion to indicate who'd cooked.

The younger brunette smirked, "It's settled then. Maybe if I finish that early, I'll see about adjusting my wardrobe a bit. Dr. K seems to find the fact that I wear a girl's jeans to be strange." This earned a cough from the young woman who managed to make it obvious she was glaring at him through the computer when she spoke, "I didn't find it strange – I was merely confused as I recognized the article of clothing as belonging to Ranger Yellow."

Dillon was pouring himself a cup of coffee and shook his head at that, "Just don't tell Scott you managed to get into Summer's pants. He might be jealous."

"What's that supposed to mean?" the Red Ranger inquired, grabbing the pot from Dillon and pouring himself a cup as well, obviously a tad more cranky than usual when he first got up.

Summer, having just come downstairs, rolled her eyes and immediately began to spoon some fruit onto her breakfast, "Of course he's wearing my pants – I'm the only one here with legs even close to as skinny as his," she commented.

Ziggy snickered at that, "I still have to belt them up like hell – you need to lay off the ice cream sundaes, they go right to your ass, and I have the pants to prove it." Summer promptly swatted him, but it did nothing to dissuade his laughter. It wasn't long at all till they were all talking and laughing over breakfast. As K watched from her room, a small smile formed on the girl's features. The team really might be better off with the two strangers that had joined them, even if Ziggy really did what she feared and got them to loosen up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Me and my little fics. XD This one is just something to do between chapters of "A Second Chance" since I'm stuck on them 3 :3 A small AU where Zigs is a good bit different, both because of events in his life that I'm changing for this story and because of...other things ^~. Also, some chapters might be shorter than my usual 2-3k per. Just sort of going with the flow here.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is partly own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het. Please keep this in mind. Fic rating is also in place for a reason – I might be writing some heavier scenes at points, though I will warn before any of them.

**Extra Note: **Contains some spoilers for certain plot points in the series, and follows the plot of several episodes, though altered a bit. AU as per usual.

* * *

Ziggy's day was spent on his personal appearance, something the young man hadn't really gotten to put much effort into in years. Sure, he'd sometimes play around with the hand-me-down or trashed clothes he found, sewing on patches or adjusting bits, but for the most part the young man had just always looked how he had to look. His hair had been wild and overly long for years, since running away from the orphanage he was raised in. After time in the wastes, the length and tangled mass had become truly unbearable. So, because of his present status living among civilized people, it was time for a look change.

Cutting his hair took a bit of consideration and effort. It was naturally curly which meant it tangled and moved in all sorts of crazy ways, depending on the length and just how much conditioner was applied. Being homeless didn't leave much time for hair care so presently it looked like shit. However, the more vain part of the youth was fond of at least having some curls, so he attempted to salvage as much as possible of the brown mop. It was nearly an hour before he had a reasonable mess of soft brown curls, hanging at most to his shoulders when fully stretched out. Now THAT was better!

Adjusting his clothes came next, and by the time he'd de-girlified and tightened up the pieces he'd gotten from Summer, it was getting to be late in the afternoon. Heading downstairs, Ziggy was surprised to find the team still out at auditions and Dillon outside on a small break from his training – if the man stayed with Dr. K too long, he tended to get irritable and sloppy and neither could stand that. Deciding to check in on the young genius, the brunette sauntered into the labs in time to hear a call from the main team.

"Dr. K! We've found someone!" Scott's voice was about as excited as he ever got, which wasn't too much but still audible in his speech. Ziggy leaned lightly over K's shoulder, not too concerned about the small jump the doctor gave when she felt the weight and realized he'd managed to get into her hidden room again.

Flynn's voice was heard next, "You won't believe this – she's just perfect for the job. Former News Helicopter pilot, eager to work, polite, nice, unbelievably pretty-" the man was cut off by Summer breaking into the conversation, "Doc, her scores are off the charts. Just like Dillon's were..." Ziggy found himself exchanging a small look of surprise with K at that. She shrugged after a moment, "All right." the raven haired doctor agreed, nodding as her companion motioned (through very odd and quick hand gestures) that he'd run the morpher to the group, "I'll be sending Ziggy with the Series Green morpher for this new recruit then."

Unlike the young woman, who merely believed this was an astounding, if implausible coincidence worthy of some consideration, Ziggy knew something was awry. One of his 'powers' was a tad predictive and was completely out of his control. The young man could feel whether or not something might turn out good or bad, just suddenly being stricken by a strong bad or good feeling. Usually he had absolutely no idea what they were about – like the unbelievably good feeling he'd had before taking a nap and nearly getting run over by a certain black muscle car – but once in a while Ziggy would get lucky and have a pretty good hint as to what he was feeling good or bad about – and in this case, it was the ranger candidate, or something pertaining to her.

The young man was also very suspicious of her, especially since he was almost positive the only way Dillon had gotten readings off the charts was because of his cybernetic enhancements and that would imply this girl was either upgraded, like Dillon, or affected by the outside to be superhuman, like he himself was. And neither of those boded well, particularly if the team hadn't been informed of it beforehand. Summer had almost seemed a bit curious too, but Flynn and Scott had merely been pleased. With Dillon busy and the other three having seemingly no idea of how suspicious this all was, the youth took it upon himself to investigate her a little, under the guise of kindly delivering the morpher.

Walking into the main room, Ziggy leaned down to pick up the morpher as K sent it from the Series Green chamber to the floor. As he bent over, the youth tried to ignore the feeling of the young doctor's eyes on his rear end, a curious and almost intrigued feeling to her gaze. That was one of the better advantages of the whole psychic thing – made it somewhat easier to tell whether or not someone liked him or was interested. Not that many people were or that he was interested in many other people – it was just nice to note. Though, he'd had a good deal of skill in that before – he'd just been way less confident about it.

Standing back up, he turned to smile at K, winking at her lightly. "I'll be back soon."

She stared at him for a moment, taking in his new, much more sleek appearance – the tight jeans, the shorter hair, the cute little vest and shirt combinations, "You look different..." the girl found herself commenting before immediately slamming the door to her room shut, moving fast enough that the youth barely caught sight of the blush on her cheeks. Soon as possible, her headset was back on properly and she was speaking to him through a screen, "Yes, anyway – protect that morpher with your life. It contains the base code for the entire Series."

Heading towards the building the team had been doing their "auditions" in, Ziggy tried to quell the increasingly worse feelings slowly creeping into his mind. There was something VERY amiss about this whole business and he did NOT like the idea that the closer he brought himself to this place brought him closer to doom of some sort. He'd always been a somewhat cowardly fellow, always on the run and always wary. Right now, going forward with that morpher was defying everything his body said was correct – but he had to do it just the same.

As the young man got close to the building, he stopped, closing his eyes and letting his powers go a little. Reading minds and projecting thoughts was a very complicated power to have – you could hear the thoughts of others, but without a good deal of control, you'd be constantly drowned in everyone else's thoughts and feelings, so much so that you'd never be able to hear or have your own. Releasing a little of that control was terrifying, even if it was for a good purpose. Right now, Ziggy was searching for the Rangers, trying to figure out if they were in the building and conscious. The state of their thoughts tended to give that away. The search would have to be quick, however, because otherwise other thoughts would start pouring in and once that happened, the floodgates in his mind would snap and it'd take forever to get it under control again.

Sometimes, when he had a free moment to think about it, Ziggy considered it funny how a person's thoughts were merely blank streams of words in a muddle of voices till you knew a particular person. Then their voice became stronger in the muddle, changing from just another thought to their actual voice. And the more distinctive a voice, the more easy it was to find. Because of this, Flynn was the first one of the team Ziggy was able to locate – and he was thinking about fruit smoothies, which made it even easier to pick up on. From there, the search could be narrowed, as people who were in the same general vicinity had similar thoughts. Easily, he latched onto Summer's and Scott's thoughts – one thinking about whether or not this new Ranger would be as hard to get close to as Dillon was, and the other thinking about whether or not he should wax his car.

That was a relief since their thoughts would have just been an uncomfortable buzz of blankness or random thought had they been unconscious. Immediately, he blocked up the mental waves of thought again. However, as he did, caught what sounded like a choked thought – half normal but half overridden by something Ziggy'd never felt before – a weird pressure that didn't quite feel right. Had Ziggy left the channel open, he'd have been able to take time and feel that weird pressure and see what caused it, but at present, he needed to go see about this new ranger candidate.

Inside, Ziggy looked around the empty hallways for the door leading into the area where the Rangers were holding testing and auditions. He'd managed to feel vaguely where they were but not how to get in there, or if they were even actually inside. However, before he could head inside to check, the sounds of a scuffle caught his attention and the young man raced over, that awful feeling beginning to become stronger and stronger.

A few guards had been doing a small scan of a young woman as part of general procedure, particularly for someone so far off the charts as this woman had been. They were now unconscious on the floor and the brunette girl between them had just started to transform from a regular looking human girl to a strange woman in a skintight suit and a visor.

He blinked at her for a second, "Whoa, that ain't normal." he said quickly before it all clicked into place – okay that explained why she'd been off the charts and he'd had such a foreboding about this, she was a VENJIX ATTACKBOT! Immediately Ziggy turned and hightailed it, intending to get the morpher away from this woman and following his gut instinct. His gut told him it was best to run outside and away, rather than to try and find where Scott, Summer and Flynn were.

A firm grip on his arm stopped Ziggy in his tracks. "I'm afraid I can't let you out to warn anyone in the city of what I am," the female behind him smirked under her visor, a chilling image, "at least...not till I've bonded with the Series Green morpher."

"Thanks for informing me exactly what you mean to do." Ziggy informed her and immediately twisted out of her grip before willing his super speed into action. It drained the young man a lot to use the bursts of inhuman power that had come from his time in the wastes – drained him so much more than using his psychic powers ever did – and so he tried to do his best to use the advantage of time to get a good distance away, steal a scooter and call for help from a decent distance from where he'd left the stunned Tenaya.

Pressing the button on his mini-communicator frantically, he tried very hard to get in touch with the pair at the Garage, "Dr. K! Dillon! Can either of you hear me? Cause there's kind of a HUGE problem!" Ziggy hissed, trying not to make his position too obvious.

Soon enough, Dr. K's modulated tones came crackling back to him, "What is it, Ziggy?" Quickly, he explained the situation as best he could, "Uh, the girl they picked is actually from Venjix aaaand she wants the Green morpher and is chasing me to keep me from telling anyone." he said quickly.

"Is the morpher secure?" K's voice was urgent this time. Ziggy's response was a simple yes, though he looked around carefully just the same – if she was following, it was best NOT to let her know he had it.

The next response he got, however, was from Dillon, "I'm on my way." Somehow that DIDN'T bode well. Carefully he tried to navigate out of the area of hung laundry that he'd been hiding in when the feeling of the approaching doom as well as a small whistle began. Ziggy winced a little, sensitive against the shrill sound and trying not to let it show too much. Damn weird conditions to his powers.

"I am not scared of you, lady." his voice was more confident than it should be, Ziggy's pain and weakness leaving him extremely defenseless and now only his faked confidence was all he had to keep from collapsing. Well that and the adrenaline rush.

Within the next moment, he was in the air, "Well you SHOULD be," and right then the young man was pretty sure he'd said the wrong thing. Oh well, at least she'd stopped whistling.

"Just who are you?" the boy asked, having absolutely no clue as to why the hell he had just blurted it out, his body just taking over at that point. That turned out to be the RIGHT thing to say because the female stopped like she had a programming glitch and began to speak very formally, "Tenaya, Generation Seven, Venjix Human Infiltration Attackbot. I am your thoug-" She was cut off by Ziggy's reply, "Yeah I don't care THAT much," and he promptly pressed the button to shoot wiper fluid from the scooter onto her visor and took off like a bat out of hell, leaving her knocked over for a moment, tangled in clothes, and with fluid covering her visor.

He abandoned the scooter when his second wind came, letting the young psychic hop between fire escapes quickly to avoid Tenaya when she was able to give chase. Up ahead he saw Dillon's car and darted forward, making a hard landing on the ground by it and clambering in awkwardly just as his friend stopped.

"You okay?" the older man asked, forgetting the entire situation for a moment seeing Ziggy flushed and panting, getting a look at his shorter hair, tighter pants, and a bit of his abdomen as his shirt had ridden up from all of the running. Ziggy reached out to push Dillon's face back towards the road, not appreciating his companion's distraction right then, particularly since he could hear that damn telltale whistling again. _Just DRIVE!_ He managed to think loud enough to block out any other interests were presently occupying the other man's thoughts and they were off.

Before they could make it too far, Tenaya leaped onto the hood of the car, preventing Dillon from seeing enough to drive straight, bringing them to a stop as they crashed into a load of cardboard boxes piled outside a warehouse. The woman smirked again, immediately yanking Ziggy from the passenger's seat, out through the window.

"So, you're the one who was bringing the morpher for me, no wonder you ran. But no matter, I shall have it anyway." she informed him. Dillon had other ideas, however and immediately moved in to knock the younger male from her grasp and begin a fight Ziggy couldn't see very well from his position of trying to get off the ground and not pass out. Sometime during the whole mess, he thought he heard the woman start her weird spiel again – getting a good bit farther this time but still not completing it – and Dillon morphing to keep fighting her.

His minor recovery and slow regaining of breath were immediately brought to a screeching halt as Tenaya 7 managed to toss Dillon aside hard enough to keep the man from being able to get up immediately. She bent down by the fallen young man and drew the morpher from his not-at-all concealing pocket (seriously, why had he wanted his pants to be tighter again? Damn comfort and looks coming before the ability to hide stuff like morphers.) He was dimly aware she'd begun to monologue about something again, though not her name at least.

Thinking Venjix really needed to check her for glitches, Ziggy grumbled out, "You talk too much," before kicking the morpher from her hand and standing up to grab it. They grappled for a moment, his strength gone too much to do much against her. However, his powers had seemingly put him on autopilot and without even realizing what he was doing, he'd bonded with the morpher, just as she'd been trying to get it away to do the same.

In a flash of light, Ziggy was suddenly in something that was totally and completely not spandex ever, and felt a good bit more alive, a new sense of power thrumming through him and melding happily with what had slowly been building over time. However, that awful sense of dread and foreboding came to fruition here as he realized that, while the city was now safe from this infiltration...he was now exactly what he hadn't wanted to be. A Power Ranger. One with much more important concerns to think about than his new predicament – because that was the least of the trouble that was going to be happening today.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Me and my little fics. XD This one is just something to do between chapters of "A Second Chance" since I'm stuck on them 3 :3 A small AU where Zigs is a good bit different, both because of events in his life that I'm changing for this story and because of...other things ^~. Also, some chapters might be shorter than my usual 2-3k per. Just sort of going with the flow here.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is partly own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het. Please keep this in mind. Fic rating is also in place for a reason – I might be writing some heavier scenes at points, though I will warn before any of them.

**Extra Note: **Contains some spoilers for certain plot points in the series, and follows the plot of several episodes, though altered a bit. AU as per usual.

* * *

Morphing had given Ziggy the power and will to get up and fight Tenaya. When she charged forward to grapple with him, he was able to toss her back and rush over to help Dillon up. "Hey, doing okay?" he asked, trying to sound cheery as possible, lifting the older man up carefully and moving into a fighting stance to guard him if necessary.

Dillon's grin was practically audible in his answer, "Yeah. Though I gotta say, I never would have pegged you as the spandex wearing type." the older man rolled his shoulder a bit before the pair turned to look at Tenaya. Ziggy shook his head a little, a smile forming under his helmet as well, "Don't you know? Self-assembling nano-fiber is all the rage these days."

She scoffed a bit, not really thinking she could handle these two Rangers at full power just yet. But half of her job was done anyway – distraction. "You're too late – the gopherbot is already under the city!" The female dashed off then, deciding to not come against the full team unless she'd had grinders to wear them down first.

It was Dr. K's turn to butt in, informing the team of a shield breach pretty close to their current location. With a quick nod between the pair, they hopped back into Dillon's car, driving to an area of Corinth that was a bit green and wooded for being in a city. It was weird NOT having a bad feeling about standing over the obviously shaking ground that a monster was about to burst through. Seriously, was this just Series Green affecting his powers funny or what?

The bot burst forth as the pair summoned their weapons to wail on it. Ziggy was going to have to have a long discussion with K later about the meaning of the word 'turbo' it would seem – you cannot have a weapon of this type powered by a turbine. Things just did not work that way. Right now, however, the youth had more problems – like the fact that it was horribly top heavy and super hard to control, particularly for a scrappy little male used to lightweight weapons.

When the rest of the team showed up, managing to drive the beast off but only for so long. Scott immediately radioed in to Dr. K to inform her they'd temporarily found the Attackbot but had no idea where it had gone. Ziggy glanced at Dillon, hear the man's thoughts, _'Let's go. It'll be down the hole this way.'_ He nodded quickly at the older man and they were soon gone.

The Red, Blue and Yellow rangers turned around from their call and were shocked to see their two new teammates gone. "Where the hell are Black and Green?" Scott demanded, looking exasperated. Seriously, could no one just handle that he was leader and wait for instructions. Flynn turned to look at his friend incredulously through his helmet, "Forget where – WHO is Green?" But there were bigger fish to fry than that as the trio headed towards the direction K said the Bot had gone.

Before the main team could reach the area, the monster was already growing, the combined power and weapons of Series Green and Black managing to take out it's smaller form. Well, now they could find it at least. One megazord battle later and that was one dead monster. But who the hell was this Ranger Green? And just what was going on – they hadn't exactly been able to find out what happened to Tenaya Sevenson after she left to be scanned by the guards though K had implied she had turned out to be a spy, but they'd been called to fight the Attackbot before getting any clarification.

"Okay Doc, who is this?" Scott asked, gesturing to the still morphed Ranger Green as they went inside. Truly, Ziggy felt like a moron still morphed, but Dillon had suggested just letting everyone know and see at first. The screen seemed almost blank before the girl answered, "I'm not entirely sure though I do have a small idea. Ranger Green, please de-morph and identify yourself."

Shrugging, the young man stepped into the middle of the room so they could properly see as he pressed the button to de-morph and was suddenly just Ziggy Grover instead of Ranger Operator Series Green, "If you insist, Doc. Though, you'd think everyone would have learned who I am by now." he offered, giving a sheepish smile at the dumbstruck looks on everyone's faces. Might as well put on a brave face now before people exploded.

It didn't take too long before Scott was bursting out in rage, "You can't just BE a Power Ranger, Ziggy!", closely being followed by a more subdued K saying something about tests in a tone that sounded half-hearted even through her vocoder, the young genius having already started to get the feeling that really, Ziggy joining them was inevitable. Summer, it seemed was too confused to speak.

That was about when Flynn spoke up, "Hang on, back up a pace. Didn't you say this morning that you didn't even WANT to be a Power Ranger?" the man asked, remembering pretty clearly the discussion that morning. There HAD to be a good reason Ziggy would be on the team if he hadn't wanted to be.

Dillon decided it was his job to stand up for his friend, voice loud over the others, "That's exactly it – he didn't want to be a Power Ranger at all. Zigs only took on the Series Green powers because he had to. You said to protect it with his life, and he did what he had to do to accomplish that."

This just started up another wave of shouting, mostly between Scott and Dillon now since one didn't like the other trying to just force change. Summer and Flynn were worriedly talking to Dr. K about what this meant and all of the noise was starting to bother the youngest male again. His ears were still sensitive after that damn shrill whistling, and without the power of Series Green fully coating him, he was starting to get tired and uncomfortable again.

It was like something snapped. One moment, Scott and Dillon had been trying to out shout each other, and the other three had been trying to make themselves heard over their quarrel. The next, Ziggy was shouting, "ENOUGH!" his voice powerful, penetrating both their ears and their minds. His angry snap of control sent everything in the room that wasn't tied down into the air – including the rangers, "I am tired, I am uncomfortable, and I am just as upset and confused about this damn arrangement as you all are. Now please, SHUT UP. My head hurts." he snapped and it became increasingly obvious from the swell of power around him that there was no arguing with him right now.

A few moments of their silence and quite a lot of deep breaths later and Ziggy was able to fan out his hand and slowly lower everything back into position. Everyone, including Dillon, was staring at him in shock and something that was a mixture of admiration and horror. Stumbling back a bit, the youth put a hand to his head, vision spinning. Dammit, he usually didn't have to use his powers so much in one day. "Yeah...I think I need a nap." he mumbled quietly before his knees gave out, his best friend luckily able to move fast enough to catch him.

Dr. K coughed awkwardly through her headset, trying not to reveal that she too had been one of the objects lifted into the air along with the team, seeing as her control room counted as part of the space his powers had been affecting. "Well. That settles that then. We shall discuss the matter of Ranger Operator Series Green and what he can and can't do, as well as any training after...after he's had a nap. I suggest you all go and attempt to relax while you can. We will reconvene later." Her hands were shaking and the genius was trying hard to keep the stutter from her voice.

Soon as the team was fully out of the room, the girl collapsed quietly against her desk. That had been one of the most terrifying and exhilarating things she had ever been exposed to. The Rangers had at least felt the powers of the suits but K herself had never been in them, never actually felt that kind of power in her life. A tiny young woman with more experience in robotics than she had in humans, it was strange being exposed to what was essentially a form of magic, the polar opposite of her field. Technology and science were concrete, strong subjects – they could be controlled easily for the most part, understood when studied enough. Magic was as wild, doubtful, and required skill to tame, to wield and to keep it from dominating a person's very being. The rush of emotion that had caused them all to fly up was her new ranger's magic taking hold of the situation because he was vulnerable. The gentle force she felt that had pushed her back down, however, had been stronger – his will dominating the powers in his body to make it do as he commanded.

K found herself wondering what other kinds of powers Ziggy might have – wondering about whether or not his wild appearance was caused by them, what sort of strains they put on him. She couldn't harness magic by studying it, generally, but the new concept was still intriguing.

_'Actually, you kind of can study some forms of magic. They're just a lot weaker and less reliable than the wilder types.'_ Ziggy's soft and very tired voice flitted into her mind, causing the young woman to look around in fear before realizing what was going on. '_What ARE you DOING in my HEAD?'_ she half shouted aloud, the thought showing her fear and confusion.

_'I can't keep my power fully contained right now so I'm hearing everyone's thoughts. I just picked up on yours since they were the most excited and pertained most to me.'_ came the almost lazy reply. She could almost picture Ziggy lying in his bed, gazing at her through those soft brown eyes, a tired expression on his face. The scene felt so much in detail that she was almost positive it was really before her – the dull looking spare sheets from the upstairs closet, one of Ranger Black's pillows mingled with Ziggy's own plain ones, forming the little nest he was leaning in. She was about to start taking in the details of the rest of his appearance and how real the room looked when K promptly realized something – she'd never been up to the room Ranger Black and the new Ranger Green shared. She didn't know what his sheets looked like or where he got them, or that one of those pillows was any different from the others.

Ziggy in the image blinked a bit before shaking his head some, '_Sorry, I'm pulling aren't I? Didn't mean to do that.' _he thought to her, lips not moving much as he waved a hand rolling over a bit before the image vanished from K's mind, leaving the girl wide awake at her desk still, eyes wide and a warmth she hadn't realized was against her cheek vanishing. Thankfully, his voice was still there, not that she understood totally why that was something she was thankful for.

Trying to wrap her mind around this whole mental communication and magic think, K tentatively thought towards him, '_So you can hear what everyone here is thinking and communicate with them?'_ what a strange and fascinating concept.

Ziggy's mental voice seemed to sigh a bit, '_If I let it, I can hear the thoughts of everyone ANYWHERE, I just won't. That's enough to drive a person over the edge completely. The more people's minds I'm listening to, the worse it is on me. Right now we're just in a sort of bubble of power so I'm not going to get flooded for hearing them thinking. It just means I have a lot of thoughts to sift through.'_ She blinked at that. Hearing everyone in the world? That was a horrifying concept – particularly since she couldn't imagine how it felt to have that many voices in your head, like too many people talking at once times infinity. _'Yeah, it's something like that. Only it makes me physically sick instead of just confused or annoyed or deaf. You can and will have a breakdown when you stop being able to literally hear yourself think, or even worse, lose your own identity in the muddle.'_

The raven haired doctor considered this a moment, removing her headseat and leaning back in her chair to process what he was saying. To lose yourself, your own identity and understanding in the midst of everyone else in the world's minds crowding your own. It was like the reverse of Ranger Black's problem almost – he didn't know who he was because there was an emptiness in his mind where his memories had been. This was almost a fullness of the head that had similar, if not worse effects.

_'You catch on quick for a girl who doesn't realize an ax can't be turbo without being powered by a turbine,' _well, his sense of humor seemed to be returning, though K thought hotly that it hadn't been her who named the weapons but her assistants in creating the technology – a memory that brought a sad, sick feeling to her chest. The young man's response was softer, more apologetic then, _'Hey, didn't mean to bring up bad memories, Doc. I was just trying to give you a backhanded compliment and lighten up the topic. S'all.'_

She nodded a bit, trying desperately at quelling the memories threatening to overwhelm her and bring about a wave of tears. A soft feeling entered her mind right then, like a hand gently pushing the thoughts back to where they'd been buried and covering them back up for the time being. Ziggy's soft voice was still there and somehow the girl knew he was trying to help, even as a tear slipped down her cheek. '_Just go back to your questions, K.' _he suggested, nudging things back towards safer territory.

Carefully, the girl sifted through questions and ideas, noticing one pushing to the forefront. _'How can you pick out my thoughts from the mess of everyone else's?'_ it was a harmless question, really, but still one worth knowing. How was it he'd identified her so easily? His response came soon enough, calm and nonchalant '_The more you know a person and about that person, the easier they are to identify. The closer they are to you in vicinity, the easier it is to hone in on them and concentrate.' _The doctor blinked, asking for him to elaborate. What did he mean?

'_It's like being able to pick your friends out from a room full of people. Sure, there are tons of people talking, but the speech patterns, inflections, volume levels, they become more recognizable the more familiar you are with that person, particularly if you've heard them speak before. For example, if I'd never heard your actual voice before, you'd be just another stream of thoughts in the waters of mind rather than an individual person – hearing the modified version of your voice would make it a teeny bit clearer but not by much. Knowing how a person's mind works, what they think about, how they think, what processes their thoughts go through, it all makes their stream easier to pick out. And the more people you know out of the group of thoughts you can hear, the safer you are. Provided the group is small enough, anyway.'_

K's eyes widened, confusion forming on her features, but she didn't even have to ask before he explained this time, '_Thoughts and minds are like an ocean of information. It can overwhelm you when it's all unclear and being thrown at you. Knowing people allows you to anchor yourself to certain parts of that ocean and keep from drifting away or propel you along a path. However, if there's too many anchors you'll drown or too many pulls, you'll be swept up in the storm.'_

She considered this for a time, '_So being able to identify each of us keeps you from getting lost in our thoughts?'_ his affirmation was felt throughout her, rather than heard in her mind this time. '_I can pick out exactly what each of the team is thinking about and doing. Certain members are easier to identify than others – Flynn's thoughts are of course accented and tend to be very simple and forward; your thoughts, meanwhile, are complicated and formal, but not blank masses of information. Summer's, on the other hand, are a tad quieter and harder to pin down in large groups, but it can be done, particularly when you've known her as long as I have. Dillon's mind tends to be very fragmented and unless we're having a direct conversation or he's concentrating on a certain topic, it's actually really uncomfortable being in his head. And Scott's got a lot going on that I don't want to mess with because frankly, he scares me a bit.'_ K let out a little laugh at that last part.

The pair chatted quietly about the ins and outs of Ziggy's magic. A few times, she wondered if this was draining him, and eventually decided to ask. '_Actually, this is all that's allowing me to sleep.'_ The response confused her – usually with that much new information or while working through an explanation, it was almost impossible for her to relax and rest. '_Yes but you don't have magic powers that are frequently ruled only by your emotions. Bonding with Series Green has mixed a new feeling of power into me, so that's buzzing a bit. Plus this is really emotionally straining, especially with how the team's taking it. And with so much of my power and control expended today, I have to not be in my own mind and only think of one solid subject or it's going to overwhelm me and I won't be able to sleep at all.'_

Conscience soothed by the knowledge that she wasn't interrupting her newest ranger with the questions and curiosity, the young woman allowed herself to return to enjoying the chat. It was the first time in forever she'd been able to have a serious discussion of this caliber – the first time she'd had to have something explained to her because she didn't know about or understand it, the first time in forever she'd let herself become almost close and familiar with a person. But that made her wonder, '_Why did you pick me to try to be social with? First the pancakes and the chatting this morning, and now you're explaining magic to me. Any of the others might have been more likely to reciprocate your desire to convene – you seem to get along well enough with Ranger Blue, and you're quite a bit more than getting along with Ranger Black at times, and you seem to have a familial relationship with Ranger Yellow already – why not one of them?'_

At this, Ziggy laughed. '_Because I wanted to talk to you. It isn't abnormal for someone to want to hold a conversation with you, K. You're a fascinating and intelligent person. The rest of their team have their merits and I like them all, but that doesn't mean I can't like you or want to talk with you.' _K blushed a bit and gave him an internal dirty look – something she really was a bit amazed was possible. '_I want a serious answer, thank you, Ranger Green.'_

Another chuckle was heard from him about then, '_Fine – you're the only one in the team who'd be able to concentrate on a single subject for as long as I needed to nap, how about that? They'd be weirded out by me in their head, and the ones who wouldn't be can only hold a conversation with me for so long before getting annoyed.'_ That she knew was utter crap. While yes, the team would be confused at first, after a time they'd get more comfortable with the idea and understand why he was talking to him this way. Certain members would be angry and maybe demand answers, but the rest would accept it and just try to keep up conversation as long as they could to help out. Her team was made of good people after all, despite all of their barriers. Like she was, really, but didn't want to say. _'Of course it's crap. You wanted a "serious" answer and I gave you one – the real explanation was the first. You just aren't ready to accept that so you will have to buy the bullshit for now.'_

By this point, Ziggy had rested enough – and K had too, apparently – that explaining just what the hell was going on would be a good bit easier. The youth headed down to the Ranger Room once more, taking a seat in front of the monitor the team usually addressed to speak with their mentor. He'd have to explain his powers to them, but at least the doc would help as best she could – they'd agreed implying she already had an understanding of magic would help the team deal with the idea better. The young man would demonstrate where he had to or could, and soon enough he was going through tests to see what kind of training was needed to make up for the traits he lacked. Well, this power ranger thing could be much worse at least.


End file.
